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New Book: The Writing Rope

I am pleased to announce that Brookes Publishing in August published my new book titled The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects. I am also delighted that my friend and colleague, Jan Hasbrouck, wrote the foreword. The book can be ordered at the Brookes website. I wrote about The Writing Rope framework in a 2019 article, and again in a Literacy Lines January 2020 blog post.

Joan Sedita | August 26, 2022 | 4 Comments

Reading Assessment Basics

Reading assessment is essential for supporting effective reading instruction. Reading assessment data provides teachers important information to guide instructional decisions. It also helps guide school leadership as they make reading curriculum decisions. This goal of this blog post is to share basic explanations of key terms related to reading assessments.

Joan Sedita | July 24, 2022 | 7 Comments

Spelling Rules and Generalizations

The focus of this post is on explicit instruction, with examples, of spelling rules and generalizations

Joan Sedita | June 6, 2022 | 0 Comments

Providing Reading Interventions Grades 4-9

A new research guide titled Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4-9 was released recently from the Institute of Education Sciences that summarizes research-based instructional interventions for older students who struggle with reading. The report was written by a panel of reading researchers and practitioners, chaired by Dr. Sharon Vaughn after reviewing the research related to intervention instruction for older students.

Joan Sedita | May 5, 2022 | 0 Comments

The Mighty Paragraph

Sentences and paragraphs are the building blocks of writing. One by one, sentences combine ideas to make meaning. Sentences related to the same main idea are grouped into a paragraph. Then, one by one, paragraphs combine to become text. In 2020, I devoted two posts to sharing suggestions for developing sentence writing skills (see Part 1 and Part 2). This post will focus on paragraph structure.

Joan Sedita | April 5, 2022 | 4 Comments

Teaching Handwriting

A few years ago I developed The Writing Rope as a framework to organize the writing skills that are woven into skilled writing. One of the components is transcription skills, which includes spelling and handwriting. When students develop fluent handwriting skills, they can focus their attention on composing. Difficulty with handwriting can have negative consequences for later writing ability. Teaching handwriting should be an essential part of a writing curriculum.

Joan Sedita | March 1, 2022 | 11 Comments

Vocabulary: Templates for Teaching Words In-Depth

This post features two scaffolds that can be used to teach specific words: the Frayer and the Two-Column templates. Effective vocabulary instruction should combine direct and indirect approaches to developing students' vocabularies. Direct methods of vocabulary instruction include teaching strategies for learning new words such as analyzing word parts and using the context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. It also includes providing in-depth instruction for specific words. Research has shown that direct instruction of at least 400 words per year produces gains in vocabulary and comprehension (Beck et al., 2002; Biemiller, 2004). The Common Core State Standards (and similar state-specific standards) call for students to "acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases" (Language anchor standard #6).

Joan Sedita | February 3, 2022 | 0 Comments

Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction

Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of meeting students where they are culturally and linguistically. It puts students at the center of instruction that validates and affirms students' identities and gives students from historically marginalized communities an equitable education experience. When culturally responsive educators validate and affirm students and bring them where they need to be academically, students are more likely to feel recognized, valued for their contributions, and eager to learn. (Hollie, 2017)

Joan Sedita | January 5, 2022 | 3 Comments

The Not So Simple View of Writing

Recently, I've been receiving questions about The Writing Rope framework for writing instruction that I developed in 2019, which is also part of the title of a new book that will be published in the summer of 2022. (Click here to read a related blog post). Some of those questions go something like this: "Is there also a Simple View of Writing?" in reference to Gough and Tunmer's 1986 reading model The Simple View of Reading. So I decided to focus this post on a model that started out as The Simple View of Writing (Berninger et al., 2002) but was then expanded to The Not So Simple View of Writing (Berninger & Winn, 2006).

Joan Sedita | December 2, 2021 | 5 Comments

What is advanced word study?

Keys to Literacy recently launched its newest professional development program: Advanced Word Study - Grade 4 and Beyond. Sometimes referred to as advanced phonics, instruction for advanced word study teaches students how to read and spell multi-syllable words by using a combination of word analysis that focuses on syllables, and structural analysis that focuses on meaningful units (morphemes - roots, prefixes, suffixes). Learning how to focus on morphemes also helps students determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

Joan Sedita | November 2, 2021 | 3 Comments

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